lingua franca

See also: Lingua Franca and língua franca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian lingua franca (literally “Frankish language”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪŋ.ɡwə ˈfɹæŋ.kə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

lingua franca (plural lingua francas or lingue franche or linguae francae or (rare) linguas franca) (see usage notes)

1. A common language used by people of diverse backgrounds to communicate with one another, often a basic form of speech with simplified grammar, particularly, one that is not the first language of any of its speakers.

   Synonyms: koine, link language, trade language, vehicular language

   Coordinate terms: vernacular; world language

   • 1988, Robert Jackall, “Chapter 1: Moral Probations, Old and New”, in Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers, Twentieth Anniversary edition, →ISBN, page 14:

     Taking these cues, I rewrote and rewrote the proposal couching my problem in the bland, euphemistic language that I was rapidly learning is the lingua franca of the corporate world.

   • 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Angara: Languages Codex entry:

     The language used by most angara across the Heleus Cluster is Shelesh, a lingua franca that was commonly used in the early days of angaran spaceflight before fading into obscurity. New connections between angaran settlements, and constant evolution of languages since their separation, means it has now seen a revival.

   • 2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 March 2022:

     Malay is the lingua franca of several Southeast Asia countries and has been simplified by its use as a second language by non-native speakers.
     For example, the Malay plural is formed by repeating a word twice – buku means book and buku-buku means books.

Usage notes

• The most common plural form in English is lingua francas; however, the plural forms lingue franche (following the Italian) and linguae francae (in the style of Latin) are both fairly common as well. Also attested, but quite rare, is the form linguas franca (treating lingua alone as the noun and taking franca as an adjective; compare attorneys general, forests primeval).

Related terms

• Mediterranean Lingua Franca

Translations

common language

• Afrikaans: lingua franca
• Arabic: لُغَة تَوَاصُل مُشْتَرَك f (luḡat tawāṣul muštarak)
• Azerbaijani: ortaq dil
• Bulgarian: лингва франка f (lingva franka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 通用語 / 通用语 (zh) (tōngyòngyǔ), 交際語 / 交际语 (jiāojìyǔ), 共通語 / 共通语 (zh) (gòngtōngyǔ), 共同語言 / 共同语言 (gòngtóng yǔyán), 共同語 / 共同语 (zh) (gòngtóngyǔ)

• Danish: fællessprog n, lingua franca n
• Dutch: lingua franca (nl) f
• Finnish: lingua franca (fi)
• French: lingua franca (fr) f, langue véhiculaire (fr) f, langue franche (fr) f
• Galician: lingua franca f
• Georgian: ლინგვა ფრანკა (lingva pranḳa), საერთო სასაუბრო ენა (saerto sasaubro ena), სალაპარაკო ენა (salaṗaraḳo ena), განსხვავებული ეროვნების ადამიანებისათვის საერთო სასაუბრო ენა (gansxvavebuli erovnebis adamianebisatvis saerto sasaubro ena)
• German: Lingua Franca (de) f, Verkehrssprache (de) f
• Greek: as in Italian, κοινή (el) f (koiní) γλώσσα (el) f (glóssa)
• Hungarian: közvetítőnyelv (hu)
• Indonesian: basantara (id), lingua franca, bahasa perantara (id), bahasa pasar (id), bahasa dagang (id)
• Irish: francbhéarla m
• Italian: lingua franca (it) f
• Japanese: リングワ・フランカ (ringuwa-furanka), リンガフランカ (ja) (ringafuranka), 共通語 (ja) (きょうつうご, kyōtsūgo)
• Korean: 공통어 (gongtong'eo), 링구아 프랑카 (ringgua peurangka)
• Latin: lingua franca f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fellesspråk n

  Nynorsk: fellesspråk n

• Persian: زبان میانجی (fa) (zabân-e miyânji)
• Polish: lingua franca (pl) f
• Portuguese: língua franca f
• Russian: ли́нгва-фра́нка f (língva-fránka) (indeclinable), о́бщий язы́к m (óbščij jazýk), язы́к (межнациона́льного) обще́ния m (jazýk (mežnacionálʹnovo) obščénija)
• Spanish: lengua vehicular f, lengua franca (es) f, lingua franca (es) f
• Swedish: lingua franca (sv)
• Tagalog: wikang kompromiso
• Thai: ภาษากลาง (th) (paasăa glaang)
• Tibetan: སྤྱི་སྐད (spyi skad)
• Turkish: geçer dil ortak dil (tr), lingua franca (tr)
• Urdu: رابطہ زبان (rābita-zabān)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Czech

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian lingua franca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lɪŋɡva fraŋka]

Noun

lingua franca f

1. (historical) Mediterranean Lingua Franca (common language spoken in Mediterranean ports in centuries past)
2. (linguistics) lingua franca (common language)

Further reading

• “lingua franca”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026
• “lingua franca”, in Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny (in Czech), 2012–2020

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian lingua franca.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /liˌŋua ˈfranka/ [liˌŋu.a ˈfran.ka]
• Rhymes: -anka

Noun

lingua franca

1. (linguistics) synonym of bahasa perantara

Further reading

• “lingua franca”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “Frankish language.”

Noun

lingua franca f (invariable)

1. the Mediterranean Lingua Franca, a common language spoken in Mediterranean ports in centuries past (consisting of Italian mixed with French, Spanish, Arabic and some Greek words and used by sailors of different countries to communicate with one another)

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian lingua franca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliŋ.ɡwa ˈfraŋ.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

Noun

lingua franca f (indeclinable)

1. (historical) Mediterranean Lingua Franca (common language spoken in Mediterranean ports in centuries past)
2. (linguistics) lingua franca (common language)

Further reading

• lingua franca in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• lingua franca in PWN's encyclopedia